Impact on teaching of the flexible wireless classroom

The Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne has implemented three flexible wireless classrooms for teaching and learning in the Humanities. These classrooms are designed to support innovative teaching practices and enhance natural human interactions. This paper reports the results of a survey of the impact on teaching in these classrooms. Results indicate that the opportunities provided by these flexible wireless classrooms substantially influenced particular teaching practices. These included strategies for teaching, engagement of students with the subject matter, socialization and interaction in class and providing feedback to learners. Attributes of the classrooms that had the greatest impact on teaching were the ability to configure space, move about in the classroom and use a variety of technologies.